I have noticed a disturbing trend over the last week. The farther away we get from the events surrounding the greatest act of mass murder in U.S. history, the more we are hearing, from the media, from Muslim leaders, and from our own government, how wonderful and benign Islam is and how we must RESTRAIN ourselves from drawing rash conclusions.

Fair enough. How about some sober and factual conclusions? Can you handle them?

Posit: The acts of war perpetrated against the United States on 9/11/01 where carried out by fanatical worshipers of Islam who, as an act of religious jihad, sought to deliberately end the lives of as many American “infidels” as possible. Furthermore, the more blood they managed to spill, the faster and more triumphant would be their entry into a Muslim paradise.

Conclusion: Radical Islam is the enemy of America.

Posit: Upon hearing the news of the assault on the United States, people all over the Muslim world (as well as right here in the U.S.) celebrated with everything from quiet smiles and rowdy street demonstrations, to official statements of approval. The few Islamic leaders cunning enough to accurately assess their true danger made half-hearted efforts to condemn the attacks, but could hardly be heard over the cheers of their own populations.

Conclusion: Whether, openly hostile, or merely giving lip service, large numbers of Islamic leaders are either pleased by these acts of war or cannot control the emotions of their people, which overflow with rabid hatred for this nation and overwhelming joy at our pain.

If radical Islam is the enemy of America and if the majority of the Islamic world either openly or secretly supports, applauds, apologizes for, or defends radical Islamic fundamentalists in their war on American, then the majority of the Islamic world is, ergo, radical, and our enemy.

Many people of questionable motivation or confused morals will rail at me for being way off base in this evaluation. Unfortunately, for them, reality never enters into their arguments. They deal in a combination of symbolism, wishful thinking, and moral relativism, which they mistake for moral superiority. They do not deal in objective reality – and nothing is more moral, or practical, than living life based on the way it is…in reality, not in theory.

So lets deal in reality, for a moment.

One could make a case that individual members of Islam are, indeed, not racist, or sexist, or bent on our destruction. One might even be able to argue that the modern Islamic world has taken great pains to clear its image of late. Both of these facts, however, do not by themselves act as irrefutable proof that the much of the Islamic leadership, worldwide, may not have ulterior motives.

As we have seen in the past, whether it is Gary Condit or David Duke, whether it is Bin Laden and the Taliban or Hitler and the Nazi's, whether it is Yasser Arrafat or Joseph Stalin, - indignant denials, qualified apologies, misdirection, window-dressing, token efforts, all of these are key elements in the politics of personal survival, as well as those of realpolitick propaganda.

Osama Bin Laden denied having anything to do with the WTC bombings. Does any rational person in this country believe him? When Yasser Arrafat faked shock and condemnation, did anyone buy it?

Does anyone truly believe, simply because many Muslim Clerics have backed away from the numerous callous remarks which were made on September 11th, that these comments did not accurately represent their true feelings?

Similarly, if an organization which is faced with widespread and negative PR (based on the indisputable facts of it's record) suddenly renounces fringe elements of its ranks in public and parades token efforts and anecdotal evidence before the nation, should we close our eyes to the objective reality of the situation?

Let us look at the empirical evidence...

Act, upon heinous act has been perpetrated against this nation in the name of Allah and Islam.

The U.S. embassies in Beirut, Kenya, Tanzania.
The 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
U.S. military RELIEF workers in Somalia.
American tourists in Indonesia and the Philippines.
The U.S.S. Cole.
The 2001 destruction of the World trade Center and attack on the Pentagon.

In the last 18 years almost 10,000 Americans have been killed or maimed by the forces of Radical Islam - targeted SPECIFICALLY because they were unbelievers.

Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia - of the 18 nations who make up the majority of the Muslim world, 9 have been identified as state sponsors of terrorism (Libya, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan) – this means that their governments actively and enthusiastically lend financial, moral, military, and political support to the shadow armies of Islamic terrorism. Out of the remaining nations, most pursue a laisser-faire attitude toward restraining terrorist organizations within their borders. Oh they give lip service, but expend no real energies in any attempt to suppress these groups. Why not you ask? Because the leaders know where the hearts of the people lay. Only Jordan and Egypt make any real efforts to battle terrorist cells within their borders.

How about the leaders of the Islamic world? Lets talk about them for a minute.

A few Americans might remember Egypt’s Anwar Sadat, assassinated for his rejection of the fatalistic violence of radical Islam. Some may have heard of King Hussein of Jordan. Lone voices of peace and reason.

Much more familiar are the specters of the Ayatollah Khomenei, Abu Nidal, Mommar Quaddafi, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, Yasser Arrafat, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin-Laden - the far more numerous voices of hate and war.

Last week former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the House Committee on Government Reform "What is at stake today, is nothing less than the survival of our civilization. Our values are hated with an unmatched fanaticism that seeks to destroy our societies and our way of life.'' This man knows of what he speaks.

The evidence is astoundingly clear – we simply lack the moral fiber to accept it. How many more Americans must die before we do accept it? If they Nuke the Statue of Liberty, or release Anthrax at the Super Bowl, will we then have the courage to address the reality that we are in mortal combat?

For we ARE in mortal combat. Do not contemplate “IF” when thinking of the next attack – contemplate where and with what weapon. Contemplate the death of YOUR children, here, on American soil, by the hands of an enemy who despises your very existence.

The majority of the Islamic world is run either by radical elements who have blood stained, cult-driven ulterior motives and who utilize the political, financial, and emotional support of like minded individuals, or by impotent figureheads who vainly attempt to restrain the floodwaters of fundamentalist jihad.

This raises significant questions as to the sincerity surrounding Islamic rejection of radical ideals.

In the final analysis, an organization’s mission should be judged by its leaders and their message. The message here is clear - and anything the Islamic world manages to produce as counter-proof must ultimately be viewed in the context of public relations spin or wartime propaganda. We may yet discover we have unlooked for friends in the Muslim world (aside from Jordan and Egypt) – but let us not be blind to the reality that many are simply telling us what we want to hear.

That would be a fatal mistake.

Know Thy Enemy - Part II: Radical Islam 9/28/01

Know Thy Enemy - Part II: Radical Islam
9/28/01